The odds are good that if you are reading this, music education has had a positive impact on your life. Perhaps you are a product of a music program or are even a music educator yourself. The power of music education is undeniable in a young person’s life, so we place high importance on making sure that our MakeMusic Cloud tools are accessible to and useful for music teachers and their students.
A tradition of supporting music education
MakeMusic’s history of partnering with school music programs starts at the beginnings of our company and our Vivace accompaniment software usage in solo contests. The transformation to SmartMusic with assessment and feedback features made our tool even more valuable for young, school-aged, musicians. After serving music education for more than two decades, in 2015, we moved online to improve access (and pricing) for more students and teachers. When COVID shut down the world, we banded together to provide free SmartMusic access to millions of students, teachers, and programs during those tough months of not being able to make music together in the same room.
Here we are, coming back together, finding what normal feels like again, and music education is now more important than ever. The transition to our new name, MakeMusic Cloud, a few months ago comes alongside some big dreams that our team has—dreams to continue to power music education.
We’ve heard from you: adopting a technology tool takes some time
Our team has recently been in touch with many MakeMusic Cloud users to investigate when educators see the biggest impact of our tools in the performance of their students. While many of you saw incredible results during COVID times, we are learning that years two and three seem to be particularly impactful times. In the second and third years of MakeMusic Cloud adoption, students retain an institutional memory of what to expect in things like assignment structure, procedures, how to log in, and even how to find a favorite song! Educators grow in those years as well—it takes some time to get into the groove of using a new tool and create updated plans for how to tackle varied concepts with students.
We are also hearing from established users a resounding “it’s worth it!” when asked about using MakeMusic Cloud with their music programs!
“Actionable and timely feedback coupled with deliberate practice are crucial elements for any musician. MakeMusic Cloud provides me with a clear snapshot each day/week of what my students sound like as individuals, what they are doing well, what they are struggling with and it helps me guide our next lessons, rehearsals and assignments.” – George Andrikokus, Director of Bands and Instrumental Jazz, Hinsdale, IL
“It is a powerful tool for streamlining in-class instruction and developing practice skills in students.” – Rachel Maxwell, Band Director, Oswego, IL
“With a variety of sight-reading texts already loaded in to the system, I can just choose what we will sight-read each day and project it for the whole class to work through together…I have noticed quite a few students start very tentatively in their sight-reading skills, and then as the year progresses, they get more confident!” – Patti Eden, Choral Director, Bullard, TX
“This program has helped encourage the students to practice more at home. If the students do not understand a note or rhythm, MakeMusic provides the answer. The students can slow tempos down and isolate sections that need more work. In a class setting, it helps when more than one section is struggling—I can put one section’s part on MakeMusic while I help the other section.” – Kelly Weddington, Orchestra Teacher, El Paso, TX
Financial challenges continue
In our conversations, we have also learned that you are feeling the burden of budget cuts, funding coming to an end, and just general changes to your programs.
We have cultivated a few helpful resources to guide you through accessing some limited-time federal funding. Explore these posts for more information:
While we have always offered a deep education discount, these recent conversations have inspired us to think of an additional solution to provide affordable access to our powerful tools.
A solution to support music education
To serve both our current loyal customers and encourage newer users to fully adopt MakeMusic Cloud into their programs, we have created a special offer for Fall 2023—Multi-Year Commitment Discounts.
Here’s how it works:
In addition to the current Bulk discount for organizations, you can select additional savings by committing to a 2 or 3 year subscription.
- 2 year commitment – 15% discount per year
- 3 year commitment – 25% discount per year
We understand that there can be a lot of red tape when it comes to purchasing something for your school music program, so electing one of these commitment programs will lock in your discount, but still allow you to pay for just one year at a time.
Inevitably, program numbers will fluctuate over the course of a two or three year commitment, so we will uphold your agreement even with a 10% increase or decrease in subscription seat numbers. Should you need a larger adjustment than that, simply reach out to us at sales@makemusic.com so that we can find the best solution for you.
We’re excited to serve you
It’s our hope that this new discount will allow the incredible MakeMusic Cloud tools to serve even more students and music educators in a positive way!
With a MakeMusic Cloud subscription, students and teachers gain access to:
- The expansive Music Catalog which is full of educational, state-list approved, and fun pieces!
- The Video lessons library which features MusicProfessor level 1 videos.
- Sight Reading Builder where you can create unlimited, customizable sight reading exercises.
- Assignments and Gradebook where teachers can create and assign customized assignments by choosing anything from the Music Catalog, a custom .xml file that has been uploaded, or even a Sight Reading Builder template. Our new video assignment feature offers even more powerful possibilities! New ungraded assignments can serve as functional practice guides for students.
- Single Sign-On and Rostering integrations with Schoology, Canvas, and Google Classroom make classroom administration easier than ever.